Black Ties
by HeCallsMeHisChild
Summary: Zim is caught and exposed. The courts see the trial as a mere formality in condemning him. Who will stand up for an ex-Invader? Final story in the Green Angel/Red Eyes/White Demon series. Black Ties.
1. Enemies

**Note: **Final story in the Green Angel/Red Eyes/White Demon series. Black Ties.

* * *

Pain. Throbbing pain in his antennae. His head felt like his brain meats had turned to rocks and were pounding against the insides of his skull. With a groan, he rolled over—and fell two feet to a cold, concrete floor.

Wincing, he cracked his eyes open, then jolted upright. He grabbed his head and moaned at the pain, but his eyes darted around. He sat on the floor of a five by five cell with an earth toilet and a cot. For a moment, he stared in bewilderment. There wasn't a room in his entire base that looked like this.

_Look, see? Not crazy, it's a monster, a monster from another world! Do you believe me yet? Do you? He's been using kids like lab rats for years!_

Zim bolted to his feet and rushed at the door. Pounding on it he began screaming, "No! No! Zim is no alien! Zim is normal, you cannot do this! I want a law-person. I need a law-person now. I deserve a law-person who knows the laws and can help Zim now! Your filthy televisions tell me I get a law-person, give to Zim!"

He shouted until he was hoarse, then sank slowly to the cold floor, clutching his arms. In the dim light, he could see his hands as they were. No hologram protected him. Any number of hyumans had seen him at this point. He was doomed. He lowered his face into his hands.

Doomed.

* * *

The door swung open, and a harsh light poured into the cell. Zim squinted, his eyes adjusting as a figure entered. Dib was taller than he used to be, and his hair zagged a few more times than before. The major change, though, was that he brandished a cane he tapped in front of him, and dark glasses shaded his eyes.

"So. I finally caught you."

Zim shivered, but plucked up his arrogance. "Took you long enough, you filthy sack of meat and hair. Even then you had to hire other people to do your dirty work, grab me and knock out my disguise."

Dib smirked. "Well well, the bug boy still has a sharp tongue. Don't worry. Once the courts are through with you they'll hand you over to the Swollen Eyeball. Humanity will benefit by pulling you apart to see how you tick."

Swallowing hard, Zim sneered, "Too bad you won't be able to see any of it."

Dib lunged forward, catching the alien by surprise. His fist seized Zim's shirt and hauled him up to eye-level. Zim kicked his tiny feet, dangling in midair.

Dib's voice was hard as he grated, "I may not be able to see what they do, but I'll be the first to put my hands in your guts and squeeze them to see how much pressure they can take before they explode."

Zim repressed a shudder. For a moment, fear pushed through the bravado. His antennae lowered, and he whispered, "I never hurt them, Dib. I took care of them. Nobody else was taking care of them. I gave them a safe place."

"Sure. A safe place while you ran all kinds of horrible experiments on them. Probably brainwashed them while you were at it. You're a terrible liar, Zim."

Zim lashed at Dib's arms with his claws, raking them across his trench coat. Dib dropped Zim in surprise, and the alien crouched, baring his teeth.

"You fool! You completely moronic specimen of your race! Why is it you were the only one who knew the truth about me being an alien, but you refuse to believe Zim is different? Are you that…" He trailed off.

Dib picked up his sentence, spitting every word. "Blind? Yes, Zim. I'm that blind. Or did you forget your little stunt in your backyard twenty years ago?"

Zim fell silent. Dib shook his head and turned to tap his way out of the cell. He called over his shoulder, "Don't bother asking for your rights. As an alien, you don't have any. Your trial will be quick. I can't say the same for your death."

* * *

They loaded Zim with chains so heavy he could barely walk. The second he tried to use his spiderlegs to support himself, eight guns were trained on him. Slowly, he retracted them, and continued his humiliating waddle.

Gasping for breath, he finally reached the courtroom. The guards, impatient with his progress, grabbed him by the arms and hauled him to his seat. Glancing wearily to the side, he noted that Dib and a strange man sat at a desk that looked like his, except he was alone at it.

"The court will now hear case 469, People vs. Alien."

"My name is Zim," he growled.

"The alien will refrain from speaking unless spoken to."

"Where is my representative? I want a law-person."

"As a hostile prisoner of war, you have not been appointed a lawyer."

"What if one appoints himself?" A new voice rang down the hall. Zim's head turned and his jaw dropped.

It had been years since he'd seen Tom. Occasionally Tom would send an archaic form of communication known as an email to let Zim know what was happening and how he was doing. They'd even gone to consume food together before Tom's career as a lawyer ballooned. Zim's antennae perked, and he swallowed back a welcome.

Tom dipped his head at Zim and winked, then turned to face the judge. "I'm sorry, your honor, I saw the papers the other day. They mentioned the alien hadn't had a chance to find a lawyer. I supposed this was an oversight, and decided to volunteer my services. After all," He grinned. "We can't have it be said that a visitor to this planet was received so inhospitably. Wouldn't you agree?"

The judge shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Dib. Dib's face had reddened and the man beside him adjusted his tie uncomfortably. Tom, on the other hand, tightened his own tie, and took a seat beside Zim. Turning Zim as if to discuss the case, he whispered, "Don't worry buddy, I got this. I'll get you out of this."

Zim swallowed, his eyes sheening slightly. "Thank you," he choked.

"Hey. Don't let them scare you. They've messed up bigtime. There isn't a law in the world that can defend what they did." He gripped Zim's wrist for a moment, the way the Irken had taught him was a sign of respect on Irk. Zim's claws wrapped around Tom's wrist as well. Breaking the grip, they both turned and braced themselves for the case ahead.

* * *

It had been foolish to hope, to think he could possibly walk away from this room free. It had only taken a few rounds of questioning and argumentation for the opposing lawyer to think of calling Tom to the stand. Caught off guard and bound to the truth, he was forced to admit his association with Zim as one of the first children taken in. Dib had immediately sprung up, howling that the man was obviously brainwashed and had no business defending Zim. The judge had agreed, and Tom had been hauled from the courtroom, bellowing and threatening. After that, Zim had put his head on the table and refused to move or speak, even when called to the stand.

All he could see from his despairing vantage point was the black tie the accusing lawyer wore. Black. Black was the color of death on this planet, if he recalled correctly. How appropriate.

Black. The color of Sadie's hair, the vivacious 8 year old he'd found digging through garbage just last week. Black, the color 13 year old Mark preferred to wear. Black, the pupils of every set of eyes that looked to him for help…

He barely heard the judge ask for closing arguments. Fighting his heavy chains, he struggled to stand on top of the desk, ignoring the click of a dozen guns pointing at him. Angrily, he shouted, "What is wrong with you? All of you! I found these smeets, do you understand? I found them in the worst situations! Situations you," he pointed at the judge, "You," the lawyer, "and even you," at Dib, "failed to protect them from. You talk about saving the Earth from an alien menace. You're all idiots. Did I want to destroy the Earth? Of course I did, it's what I was sent here for. Do I still hate this stinking rock? Of course I do! But I hate it for a whole new reason now. I hate it because people like you," he pointed to the judge and lawyer, "are stuck in little gray buildings letting guilty people go free and locking up the unguilty! And you," he snarled at Dib, "Are so busy chasing the past you forgot the people you were trying to save. They're right in front of you, you imbecile! What do you think is going to happen when they take me away? All the smeets will go back to the streets, back to their horrible existences. Or they'll go to another orphanage, another place of fostering cares, a different kind of horrible existence. I made it different. Do you hear me? I, Zim, cared for these smeets you say I experimented on. Every last one of them will tell you I never harmed a single one. Not one! And I—gaack!"

A guard grabbed him by the back of his neck and jerked him down off the table. The judge gave Zim a look of cold contempt and motioned to the accusing lawyer.

Zim tuned him out. He knew he was finished. His last tirade did nothing. Defeatedly, he lowered his head to the table again, and didn't move until the judge pronounced him guilty.


	2. Friends

The sheet they'd left for Zim didn't warm him. He lay on the cot, shivering, clutching at the fabric as if it might save him from his horrible fate. He could see it now. He could see the scientists guiding Dib's hand so he could make the first cut in Zim's body. He could smell his own blood, and hear himself screaming. And they wouldn't kill him, oh no. They would preserve his miserable existence as long as they possibly could, learning all they could about him. They probably wouldn't even give him anesthetic. Hyumans were, he shuddered, still a barbaric race.

Or at least, some of them were. Not all…

The hours dragged on, leaving him to imagine every agonizing, horrific experiment they would perform on him. With Dib's knowledge, it would be especially painful. Fear crawled through his squeedly spooch and gnawed at his brain. Finally, when the door opened again, he cracked. He drew the sheets over his head and whimpered, scrunching into a tiny ball.

The door closed again, and hands grabbed his shoulders. "Hey, hey! Thim, come off it. Thim!"

That voice… Zim pulled the sheet down a little, his eyes wide. It had been even longer since he'd seen Joey. The boy had never lost his speech impediments. He'd vanished from the orphanage at age 18 and, from what Zim gathered, had been in and out of jail a few times for petty thievery and breaking-and-entering. He'd grown so attached to GIR that, when he'd left, he'd taken the robot with him. He must have trained GIR to break him out of jail because shortly after he would be taken into custody, the news would report a hole in the solid cement wall, or window bars bent aside like pipe cleaners.

"Joey?"

The boy—now a man—grinned widely. "Hey Thim. Tom put out the wo'd. Don't wowwy. We gonna get you out thafely. We got a plan."

Zim gripped Joey's hand tightly, eyes wide. Joey's grin faded, and a hard light came into his eyes. "Wow. They weally sca'ed you, didn't they?" Joey sat cross-legged on the ground and did something few on the planet would have dared to do. He pulled the ex-Invader off his cot and wrapped him in a tight hug. "Don't wowwy Thim. It'th ouw tuwn now. We get to take cawe of you."

Zim clenched his eyes shut, clinging to Joey. "How are you supposed to get me out of here? This isn't a normal jail cell. The security is beyond… wait…" He pushed back for a moment. "How did you get in here in the first place?"

Joey grinned devilishly. "You thowed Tiana you' machineth an' how to make 'em wo'k. Tiana went back to the owphanage and found thome thtuff." He nodded to the hall. "They all athleep, and you had thtuff that methed up lockth."

Zim swallowed. "Tiana's here too?"

"Out in the hall. C'mon, we gotta go." Releasing Zim, he stood and reached his hand out to help him up. Zim tilted his head back. Irk, when did all those smeets get to be three times his size? He accepted the hand and followed Joey. He smiled at the sight of Tiana, engrossed in the readout of an Irken device in her hands. She glanced at him, and her face lit up.

"Zim. Better hurry, they won't be asleep much longer. Come on Joey, we have to run, we've got about ten minutes."

"Thowwy Thim." Joey apologized, before reaching down and scooping up the alien. Tiana and Joey turned and pelted down the hall, past the sleeping security. Zim noted the security cameras—each lens covered in green goo.

They'd reached the entrance to the facility when the alarm began blaring. Tiana held her arms out and took Zim from Joey. Joey nodded, and turned, pulling out an explosive device. As Tiana ran on, Zim watched as Joey pretended to plant the device on the outer wall. Security poured out and circled around him, guns drawn.

Zim sputtered, "But… they've got Joey!"

"It's part of the plan," Tiana huffed, "He'll break out in a couple days, same as he always does. Don't you watch the news?" She shoved a bracelet at him. "Put this on."

Zim didn't question, but slipped on the piece of jewelry. Instantly, his hand faded from green to peach, and grew two digits. Gaping, he stammered, "But how… you mastered holographic technology?"

Tiana smirked as she slowed and set him down. "Like Joey said, Zim, stop worrying. We can take care of ourselves now, and we finally get to help you."

* * *

Tiana left Zim at the edge of a runway, pointing him to the private jet at the end of it, but not before picking him up and squeezing him tightly. Zim had approached the jet and hesitantly climbed the stairs. Once inside, he took a moment to look around. The interior was lavish, with plush carpeting and wood siding. A mini-chandelier hung from the ceiling and, sitting on a leather seat, a formidable female sat, staring at him. He took a step back in alarm, ready to flee. He didn't recognize this hyuman.

She stood and crossed the space between them in a second. Kneeling, she grabbed his arm. He yanked back, but her grip held. He cursed the years he'd let his reflexes get soft. Gently, she slid the bracelet off his arm and watched his disguise melt away. Her mouth made a little "o" and her eyes filled with tears.

"Zim?"

Zim blinked, eyes darting around.

"It's me. Jane."

His jaw dropped. Jane had chosen an even more archaic form of communication than Tom, the written letter. He hadn't seen her since he sent her off to cow-ledge. He'd heard she'd become a success in the area known as business, and that she was a very important person, but neither of them had had the time to see each other.

This was Jane, who had once cowered at the sound of his voice and cried when anyone shouted. Now she looked as if she could face a meat-thirsty Hogulus without flinching. Except for now. Now she was crying again, wiping away the tears so they wouldn't burn him.

"You're okay. We were worried. I thought they might take you away before Joey could get to you."

Awkwardly, he patted her arm. "They found me. Zim is alright. Just a little… what do you say… shaken." His antennae drooped. "Zim is alright, but now what happens? I can't go back to the orphanage. They'll be watching for me. What will happen to the smeets?"

Jane smiled. "Don't worry about that. Tiana's taking over."

His head jerked up in surprise. "What?"

"Tiana knows your base better than any of us—except you. She's volunteered to take over Green Angel Orphanage. The kids will still be there, and still be looked after."

Zim felt relief for a moment, but then it was gone. "That still doesn't answer my question. Now what happens?"

"You mean for you?" She stood and walked back to her seat. Reseating herself, she pushed a button on the arm rest. "You'd better sit and buckle up. We're taking off."

Blinking, Zim hurried to another seat and buckled.

"What would you like to do, Zim?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what would you like to do? Would you like to live anywhere on the planet? Would you like to be able to do anything?"

Zim glanced out the window as he watched the runway zoom past. Quietly, he murmured, "I want to take care of the smeets still."

Jane smiled gently. "I thought you might say that. Guess what?"

He glanced at her. "What?"

"A wealthy donor has furnished an abandoned building for you. It's in another state, and it has the best technology Earth has to offer integrated into its structure. It won't be as good as yours, but it's something. All it needs is someone willing to run it and go hunting for orphans and cast-off kids."

Zim forgot his seatbelt and tried to leap up, but remained pinned to his seat. "You mean it?" He asked excitedly. "There's another place for me?"

"Of course. You will have to be more careful though." She waved the bracelet at him. "We'll do our best to keep Dib off your trail, but if he's anything like you told us, he won't give up."

"To flirk with Dib," Zim muttered angrily. Shaking his head, he declared, "He won't catch me again. I'm not going to let my guard down again."

"That's the Zim I know." Leaning back, she crossed her arms. "Well, we have a long flight. Let's catch up, shall we?"

* * *

Dib listened as his aide described the feed from the camera in Zim's cell. The man called "Joey" had broken in and, on finding Zim cowering, pulled him into a hug. The alien, on all accounts, didn't resist, but hugged him back.

A brainwashed man might break his brainwasher out of prison, but comforting him? And Zim returned the embrace? It didn't make sense.

Unless he believed Zim's story. Unless he'd been wrong for over twenty years.

_What if…_

* * *

Zim stretched. It had taken hours to reach the other state Jane mentioned, and even more time to become acquainted with the new house and its system. He would have to put some work into it to bring it up to Irk's standards, but it would do. With a smile, he reached for the doorknob. It was night, and high time for him to return to his mission. The one that called him with the sound of crying. The one that rewarded him every time he looked into another set of frightened, needy eyes. The one he'd commissioned for himself.

And Irk help the scum he found causing the sobs. His red eyes would be the last thing they ever saw, before black consumed them.

With a deep breath, he stepped out into the night. It was time to work.

THE END.


End file.
